Hero Power

A Hero Power is a special ability displayed to the right of each hero's portrait. Usually Hero Powers can be used once per turn and cost 2 mana, but some effects can modify the mana cost of Hero Powers or allow the use of a Hero Power multiple times per turn.

Each class has its own unique Hero Power, which tends to epitomise its character and playstyle. However, some effects (such as Shadowform or Charged Hammer) are able to replace a Hero Power with a new one, while others modify the rules for some specific Hero Powers.

Hero Powers may have a variety of effects, such as summoning a minion or dealing damage to a target character. Using a Hero Power will activate related triggered effects, most notably friendly Inspire effects.

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The icon for the Hero Power in the game interface is face up when that Hero Power is available to the player, and flips over to a grayish empty space after being used. At the beginning of the player's turn, it flips back up to indicate it is usable once more. Regardless of whether it is face up or down, the Hero Power of the player or the opponent can be hovered over at any time to read its details.

Example: Lesser Heal is a targeted Hero Power but, since it does not require a damaged character, it can be used on a full-Health minion too: although having no healing effect, this still counts as a use for Hero Power-related effects.

Usually you can only use each Hero Power once per turn. Your Hero Power flips back up (resetting the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter) at the start of your turn and when replaced with a new one: the new Hero Power can thus be used on that same turn if mana allows (even if it is the "same" Hero Power as the replaced one).

Example: A player already using the Ragnaros hero could use DIE, INSECT!, sacrifice another Majordomo Executus to become a new copy of Ragnaros with his Hero Power, and then use the "new" DIE, INSECT! once again. With additional copies of Majordomo Executus, this is possible even more times.[1]

In addition, some effects can refresh a Hero Power, allowing more then one use of it each turn:

Garrison Commander refreshes your Hero Power at Aura Update (Health/Attack) timing if it was used just once this turn (i.e., if the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter is 1);

"Use a Hero Power" is one of the Player Actions that a player can actively do during their turn (the others are: "Play a card", "Attack", "End the turn" and "Concede"), and as such it starts its own Sequence.

To use a Hero Power a player must click on it and, if required, select a target.

After clicking on a targeted Hero Power (such as Fireblast and Lesser Heal) a red arrow appears, going from the Hero Power to the player's mouse pointer. It disappears after the player clicks on the choosen target.

While Mayor Noggenfogger's effect is active, the red targeting arrow is replaced with a question mark.

While choosing a target the player can cancel the action by clicking on the Hero Power again. This is only possible for targeted Hero Powers: Hero Powers that are auto-targeted (such as Steady Shot) or randomly targeted (such as DIE, INSECT!) or that do not require a target at all (such as Reinforce) cannot be undone this way.

If the Hero Power requires a target and there is a Mayor Noggenfogger in play since the last Aura Update (Other) Step, its effect triggers and randomly selects a valid target; multiple Mayor Noggenfoggers stack.

The Hero Power takes effect.

The Hero Power is exhausted and flipped over (the Hero Power visually seems to flip over before Mayor Noggenfogger triggers, but in the log file it is exhausted after having taken effect).[2]

The "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" and the "number of times you have used a Hero Power this game" counters are increased by 1.

The "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter is reset at the start of your turn and whenever your Hero Power is replaced with a new one.

The "number of times you have used a Hero Power this game" counter (which is for example used for the cost reduction of Frost Giant) never resets, regardless of your Hero Power being replaced, upgraded or otherwise modified.

Inspire Phase

Hero Power-related triggers (listed in the following table) queue and resolve. Most of them have the Inspire keyword, which denotes triggered effects that activate each time the controlling player uses a Hero Power.

Players start each match with the basic Hero Power of their class (sometimes also referred to as that class' starting Hero Power).

Alternate heroes use cosmetically altered versions of the basic Hero Powers: although there is no functional difference, the appearance and casting animations vary from those used by the standard heroes.

Over the course of the match certain effects can replace a player's Hero Power with another one, regardless of that player's class or hero:

Renounce Darkness replaces your current Hero Power with the basic Hero Power of a random non-warlock class.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton lets you Discover another basic Hero Power. More precisely, this minion's Battlecry forces you to replace your Hero Power with one among three randomly selected basic Hero Powers, with the exception of the basic Hero Power corresponding to your current Hero Power's class (see the table below).

Example: If you are a priest with the Mind Spike Hero Power, Sir Finley Mrrgglton's Battlecry can not offer you Lesser Heal (since it is the basic Hero Power of the Mind Spike's class), but it can still offer you the mage basic Hero Power Fireblast.

Justicar Trueheart and Baku the Mooneater replaces a basic Hero Power with the corresponding upgraded Hero Power (see the table below). It will have no effect if you don't have one of the 9 basic Hero Powers.

Hero cards replace your current Hero Power with the Hero Card Hero Power of the appropriate class.

Most non-playable bosses have their own Hero Power. Adventure bosses have both Normal and Heroic versions, with the latter usually featuring enhanced versions of their Hero Powers. Some bosses gain different Hero Powers over the course of the encounter due to cards or the Hero Powers themselves.

Boss Hero Powers vary in cost, and may cost anywhere from 0 to 8 mana. Some boss Hero Powers are "auto-cast" automatically as the boss's first action each turn, assuming it has enough mana. This means that the boss is not able to choose the best time to make use of the Hero Power, or to forgo using it on any given turn. Auto-cast Hero Powers have a special ongoing visual effect. Typically auto-cast Hero Powers are cheap, including the majority of those that cost 0 mana. Other boss Hero Powers are passive, causing a free ongoing and/or triggered effect rather than being used at one particular time.

Available each and every turn, Hero Powers can allow players to gain card advantage by taking actions without expending cards. Players can choose to use a Hero Power instead of playing a card, sacrificing some tempo in exchange for a larger hand. Hero Powers can also be used often in order to keep pace while holding back cards to build toward a combo, or to fill gaps when no other strong play is available. Hero Powers should generally be used whenever there is sufficient spare mana.

Basic Hero Powers are designed to offer a reliable but underpowered effect. For almost all basic Hero Powers, it is possible to identify cards which accomplish more for less mana, and cards that do significantly more for 2-3 mana. This mana inefficiency prevents Hero Powers from being directly superior to cards in most cases, making them reliable secondary options rather than first choices each turn. Generally speaking, Hero Powers are effects at the value of a 0-Cost card, as evident by comparing the paladin Hero Power Reinforce with the minion card Wisp, or the mage Hero Power Fireblast with the spell card Moonfire. The extra 2 mana is effectively a surcharge for gaining the effect without consuming a card.

Note that the Totemic Call's randomness itself also makes the Hero Power comparatively weaker than a well-chosen equivalent in the hand. Still, each Totem other than Healing Totem can be compared unfavorably to cards, just as with other Powers:

Healing Totem's effect is unique so it cannot be said to be strictly worse than examples like the Darkscale Healer or Lightwell. But again, due to the randomness of Totemic Call and situational usefulness of the summoned Totems, it is clear that it shares other basic Hero Powers' weakness with respect to tempo.

Hearthstone has included the basic Hero Powers for its nine classes since the very beginning. Although these "starting Hero Powers" have not changed, the variety and availability of Hero Power-related effects has increased over the years, including effects that replace the starting Hero Powers completely.

Blizzard has consistently introduced new effects that replace Hero Powers through new card sets, with almost half of Hero Power-related cards outside of The Grand Tournament including such effects. On the other hand, Inspire has not been on any cards since the expansion in which it was introduced.

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